Virada Cultural 2011 in Sao Paulo will happen this weekend - April 16th 17th

That's what you can find during the Virada Cultural every year.

This weekend, the city of São Paulo will host an annual event called Virada Cultural 2011. The event will feature 13 stages and and up to 4 million people are expected to attend. Most performers will be Brazilian. The program includes Rita Lee, Dominguinhos, Erasmo Carlos and Almir Sater. But this year, Virada Cultural will have dozens of international attractions, including the punk band Misfits and the reggae group the Skatalites, as well as U-Roy from Jamaica, and Steel Pulse from England. A stand-up comedy marathon will take place on the Viaduto do Chá, and wrestling fights with Mexican athletes will be held in Anhangabaú, a part of Downtown Sao Paulo. In addition, an outdoor opera will be held at the Pateo do Collegio.

The event will also bring interesting projects, like the Brazilian band Sepultura with the Orquestra Experimental de Repertório (at 11:00pm on Saturday at Estação da Luz, the metro station and historical center). Paulo Miklos, from the Brazilian band Titãs, with the Quinteto Branco e Preto are set to play songs from Noel Rosa (at noon on Sunday at the stage addressed on República).

Heavy metal rock groups will be represented by the Misfits, P.O.D., Minikiss, Voodoo Zombies and the Texas Hippie Coalition. The bands will be introduced by the Brazilian director of horror movies, Zé do Caixão (early Sunday morning, on Julio Prestes).

At the Pateo do Collegio, there will be also be a presentation of the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal (the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra) for the first time in the event's history. The orchestra will be involved in the aforementioned outdoor opera, which is called Pagliacci (Ruggero Leoncavallo). The orchestra will also perform the Coral Lírico Acrobático Fratelli and Companhia Pia Fraus, other theatre-related events.


Some additional highlights

• This year, there will be a reggae group from Maranhão, the Diamante Negro. 
• There will be also be samba performances this year. It will be at the Stage on República with shows from Monarco, Riachão and Mart’nalia, among others. 
• A series of presentations of stand-up comedy will bring together 28 comedians- including Danilo Gentili, Rafinha Bastos and Marcelo Medici. 
• The band Beatles 4Ever, will play all Beatles albums (starting at 6:00pm on Saturday). 
• Also, cosplay events and a battle of light sabers will be held at the Vale do Anhangabaú. 
• As for movies, the Cine Windsor will display a film exhibition of Zé do Caixão. 
• There will be three tracks with national and international DJs: Slope of Memory, Place, and Major Alfredo Issa Sertorius. 
• Pole dancers will be performing in several places around the downtown region of the city.

With its original lineup, the traditional Brazilian 80s band RPM will play at the Júlio Prestes (6:00pm on Sunday). At the same time, Paulinho da Viola will play at the República with the Orquestra de Cordas de Curitiba. The São Paulo Companhia de Dança (the Sao Paulo Dance Company) will perform with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo at Estação da Luz. The last performance will be from the ópera Pagliacci, which takes place at Pateo do Collegio on Sunday at 19h.

Inspired by the Nuit Blanche of Paris, the Virada Cultural has been an annual success since 2005.

Insidesaopaulo is preparing a post with the whole program of the event. Check out tomorrow!